Educated: A Memoir (Pre-Recorded Audio Player)

Staff Reviews

File this one under "People actually live like this?!" or "I am so grateful my parents were normal," or "Holy crap, this woman can write." A stunning, unflinching memoir of self-determination, and flat-out stubborn curiosity. From the mountains of Idaho to the halls of Cambridge and Harvard, Westover slowly reveals her childhood with her extremist family, how this shaped (warped) her sense of self, and how she grew into her own person. This will join the canon of classic memoirs, to be taught in schools and marveled at for decades to come. ~ Dana

— Dana

Exquisitely told memoir of an unusual and often horrific childhood. Incredibly insightful and reflective- it's destined to be a classic and will definitely be on my top 10 list for 2018.

— Dana

March 2018 Indie Next List

“Tara Westover is barely 30; could she really write a necessary and timely memoir already? Absolutely. Raised largely 'off the grid' in rural Idaho - without school, doctor visits, a birth certificate, or even a family consensus on the date of her birth - Tara nevertheless decides she wants to go to college. This is a story in two parts: First, Tara's childhood working in a dangerous scrapyard alongside her six siblings, her survivalist father, and her mother, a conflicted but talented midwife and healer, while fearing Y2K and the influence of the secular world; then, her departure from her mountain home to receive an education. Both halves of her story are equally fascinating. Educated is a testament to Tara's brilliance and tenacity, a bittersweet rendering of how family relationships can be cruel or life-saving, and a truly great read from the first page to the last.”
— Emilie Sommer, East City Bookshop, Washington, DC